Connacht keen to keep Sharks on hook

Connacht have no intention of letting the Sharks off the hook but boss Pete Wilkins says they are expecting a different beast from the side that has lost their opening four games.

Without their World Cup Springboks, John Plumtree's side have suffered away losses to Munster, Leinster, Ospreys and Zebre so far.

Conversely, Connacht led the table after three homes wins and followed up by picking up a losing bonus point away to Edinburgh last weekend.

The hosts, who won nine from 12 home games last season, welcome back centre Lukhanyo Am, who didn't get any game time in South Africa's World Cup campaign, while Connacht have travelled without Ireland backs Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen.

Finlay Bealham (below), however, returns to the front row for the 3pm kick-off (Irish time, live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).

"The first thing is to make sure that there's no degree of complacency in how we approach it," said Wilkins, who took over as boss following Andy Friend’s departure at the end of last season.

"A four-game tour is really, really tough and the South African teams have to face that in the URC, they faced similar situations in Super Rugby and even though they have to go through that they're still there in the knock-out stage of the competition because they are then so difficult to beat at home as well.

"For us it's understanding that the last four weeks isn't everything that we'll get thrown at us in a Sharks context.

"In terms of trying to make the most of the opportunity, it's realising that we have to be in every fight.

"The Sharks this season and the Sharks last season when they were having a lot of success, they're a team that damages opposition teams in very short bursts, very quick moments.

"They don't need 10 or 15 phases of